The reaction of Irish fans to being drawn in a group that included Bulgaria for the Euro ’88 qualifiers must have been one of dread. Twice in recent campaigns Ireland had been drawn against the Bulgarians, for the World Cup in 1978 and for the 1980 Euros – the games that followed had featured disallowed goals, brawls, red cards, a horrific injury to Ireland’s Jimmy Holmes and a crowd atmosphere in Sofia described as a “Cauldron of hate”.

This was a tough group for Jack Charlton’s opening qualifying campaign, Bulgaria, Belgium, Scotland and Luxembourg were the opposition with only the winner progressing. Bulgaria were a talented side to boot, having qualified for the 1986 World Cup level on points in their group with European Champions, France. And even though they didn’t make it out of a tough group featuring Italy and eventual winners Argentina there was plenty of skill and ability in their ranks.

When Ireland faced Bulgaria away in the first of the game on 1st April 1987 they were buoyed by a somewhat unexpected away win over Scotland that February thanks to a famous Mark Lawrenson goal. Ireland were unbeaten at this stage having drawn at home to Scotland and also drawn against Belgium in Brussels thanks to a late Liam Brady penalty.

Two of the main protagonists in Sofia that night were goalkeeper Boris Mikhailov and striker Nasko Sirakov, stars for Levski Sofia who had both returned from bans after their part in the infamous brawl that marred the 1985 Bulgarian Cup final against their great rivals CSKA Sofia. Mikhailov was impressive in the Bulgarian goal denying efforts from Stapleton, Brady and Ronnie Whelan while Sirakov was won the crucial penalty with just minutes remaining the second half. Latchezar Tanev scored the resulting spot kick to give Bulgaria a 2-1 win but there were significant protests from the Irish. Much of the commentary from Irish observers felt that Kevin Moran made contact with Sirakov outside the box and that it was a “soft penalty”, while there were similar shouts for a first half penalty for Ireland that fell on the deaf ears of Portuguese referee Carlos Silva Valente. It was Ireland though who were ultimately April fools and an angry Jack Charlton blustered to the Press “there is no way anyone can win out here” – though he remained proud of a performance he felt had warranted at least a draw, stating “anyone who thinks that Ireland have no chance of qualifying for the finals must be crackers after such a marvellous display”!

Ireland would meet Bulgaria again in October as the final game of qualifying. It perhaps says something for the lack of optimism among Irish fans that only 26,000 showed up to Lansdowne Road for the game, some twenty thousand less than for the home fixtures against Scotland or Belgium. Ireland turned in one of the best performances of the campaign, with goals coming from a pair of Manchester United defenders in the shape of Kevin Moran and Paul McGrath. The only downside was the dismissal of Liam Brady who received a second yellow for elbowing Ayan Sadakov in retaliation.

Brady was originally to face a four-match ban, and when Gary McKay’s unlikely winner in Sofia a month later guaranteed Irish qualification there was a concerted effort by the FAI to appeal the severity of the suspension. The four-match ban was eventually reduced to two after the FAI’s Des Casey gave a memorable speech, declaring “To Irish football, Liam Brady is what Michel Platini is to French football and what Diego Maradona is to Brazilian football”! Sadly, injury would prevent Brady from playing in the Euros but so much of that first European Championship qualification had hinged on Brady and indeed on results (both Irish and Scottish) against Bulgaria.

This originally appeared in the Ireland v Bulgaria match programme in March 2025